callóvscargoTell them apart

Quick tell: calló is a verb, cargo is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“calló” is a verb and “cargo” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#33,468
“calló” frequency rank
#603
“cargo” frequency rank
34071
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature calló cargo
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de callar. Puesto de responsabilidad en un sistema organizativo.

Where the eye mixes calló and cargo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

5 ch
calló
5 ch
cargo

Why the eye confuses calló with cargo

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: calló is [kaˈʝo] while cargo is [ˈkaɾɣ̞o]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34071, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

calló is recorded at frequency rank #33,468, classified as averb, pronounced [kaˈʝo]. cargo is at rank #603, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkaɾɣ̞o].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 34071, this pair ranks #193,408 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of calló vs cargo

Shared letters: ac. Private to "calló": . Private to "cargo": gor.

"calló" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "cargo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cargoacrgo · cagro · carggo · carog · carrgo · ccargo · crago

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "calló" and "cargo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "calló" is a verb and "cargo" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "calló" or "cargo"?
"cargo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #603 in our Spanish list, against #33,468 for "calló". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "calló" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cargo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #193,408 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "calló" and "cargo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "calco vs calló". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #193,408 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list